“It’s like watching a movie at quarter speed, it quickly becomes tragic” – vocational students’ motivation for reading literary texts

Abstract

Reading literature can have a positive impact on cognitive, social, and emotional com­petencies (Mar et al., 2009; Oatley, 2016; Wolf, 2018). However, reading literary texts is an activity that is under pressure in today’s technology-driven society (Cole, 2009), and the motivation among Norwegian adolescents to read literature seems to be declining (Roe, 2020). At the same time, there is little research providing in-depth insights into students’ motivations for reading, especially among those enrolled in vocational programs. Therefore, in this study, we investigate the motivation for reading literature among vocational students in the Norwegian L1 subject. Through in-depth interviews with eight students from the Child Care and Youth Work program (Grade 12), we investigate 1) students’ self-perceptions as readers of literature, and 2) the value they assign to reading literary texts. A principal finding was that the students scarcely viewed themselves as readers, experiencing a class environment that, through a collective identity as “non-readers”, reinforced their negative self-concept. Further­more, the students perceived the costs associated with reading literature – such as cognitive demands and time use – to be high. Another significant result was that the students attributed low value to reading literary texts, largely due to repeated encounters with unengaging literature and uninspiring literature instruction. These results indicate a need to foster a positive learning environment to support students’ self-perceptions as readers and their valuation of reading. There is also a potential for increasing the use of didactic strategies to strengthen students’ reading motivation, including scaffolding, promoting student autonomy, and ensuring relevance.